Duty to refer North East procedure

Audience

Local Housing Authorities; prisons; youth offender institutions; secure training centres; secure colleges; youth offending teams; probation services (including community rehabilitation companies); Jobcentre Plus; social service authorities; emergency departments; urgent treatment centres; hospitals in their function of providing inpatient care; members of the regular forces; other public authorities or partner organisations that wish to make referrals to North East local housing authorities.

Overview

The Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and Homelessness (Review Procedure etc.) Regulations 2018 have introduced a duty on specified public authorities to refer service users that may be homeless or threatened with homelessness to a local housing authority. This document sets out the procedure for referring service users to one of the twelve housing authorities in the north east. The procedure is for the public authorities specified within the legislation and other organization's wishing to make referrals on a voluntary basis. The procedure and the documents associated with it will be reviewed in the light of experience and further improvements made where necessary.

Action required

For practitioners and stakeholders to be aware of their responsibilities under the Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and Homelessness (Review Procedure etc.) Regulations 2018. In particular, the process and mechanism for making referrals to a local housing authority within the north east

Additional copies and access

This document is available to view and/ or download from the external website of each local housing authority within the North East:

It may also be accessible from a referring organisation's internal intranet or through contacting their homelessness champion (if they have one). If a referrer would like a large print version, a translation of, or any other information about this document, please use the relevant local authority.